CNN: CNN Newsroom - "I Was Utterly Devastated"

Run time: 05:24 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tujajeOJYUw   Posted on YouTube: June 02, 2009 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: June 04, 2009 By DU Member: Omaha Steve Views on DU: 4840

 

http://www.sldn.org/page/s/fehrenbach

Dear Mr. Secretary:

Lt. Colonel Victor Fehrenbach has served honorably for 18 years in the Air Force as an F-15E Aviator. He has received eight air medals, one for Heroism, and was hand-picked to protect the Washington, D.C. airspace after 9/11. He flew combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, targeting the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Lt. Col. Fehrenbach has only been an asset to the United States Air Force, not a detriment to unit cohesion, morale, or good order.

I ask that you allow this brave patriot to continue serving his country as a highly skilled aviator. We taxpayers have spent over 25 million dollars to train this hero. Our country cannot afford to lose Lt. Col. Fehrenbach, especially when we are waging two wars. I respectfully request that you review his case immediately and let him keep serving.

Sincerely,

Click the link.

And I'm glad he's not going to be coming home missing any limbs.

Of course, I think we ought to not be maiming anyone on either side, so I'm a little pleased to know that the top brass has at least a more evolved policy towards our gay military personnel.

I mean, if the top brass think that foreign bombers ought not to be harming our gay brothers and sisters, I'm not going to argue with them other than to ask that the extent the same policy to our heterosexual enlisted personnel.

It's a step in the right direction, but he shouldn't lose his paycheck.

anyone who is willing to put their life on the line for our country should not have to endure this kind of bullshit!!!! in fact no one should.

do not hold your breath while waiting . . . .

Nuff fuckin' said?! Jesus...

PB

who have had to leave the military due to DADT,

*AND*

an invitation to return to service. Make it very public. Proud and public.
Maybe give them something extra to compensate for the unfair treatment.

I wish they would declare a moratorium on DADT dismissals until the matter is reviewed and settled. Just stop them until a new policy has been put in place.

period.

consitutional rights and safty of this country. Let this man do his job, and keep his private life private.

I am sick of these stories. Men and women who are serving honorably and protecting our country - and getting discharged for simply being gay or lesbian. This shit has got to stop!

we are being held hostage by religious superstitions from centuries ago and wacky Christian sects that developed their screwy ideas in the 19th and 19th Centuries.

Jesus Christ did not act this way, and there is nothing in this teachings to support this bigotry and hatred.

This insanity has got to end. As taxpayers, why are we gay Americans paying to fund our own persecution? Isn't it enough that we are forced to pay for the education of other people's children--the children of heterosexuals?

Other developed countries have fully integrated gay citizens into the military organization of their nations without problem or incident, in fact they are operating at their highest honor and capability.

Regrettably, a country that elected the torturous Bush/Cheney team is capable of some horrendous errors.

End the insanity--"Don't ask--don't tell" was a green light to discriminate, nothing more.

Gay men and women have been a force in every major battle in the history of the United States, and have served honorably. One of our brave gay men was a bona fide hero on United Flight 93, a force for good on 9-11. How long will we continue with this dark cloud of dishonor and disrespect for one segment of our citizenry???

One needs only to look at such incidents as the religious discrimination at the Air Force Academy, amont other similary military atrocities, to see the vile bigotry and prejudice that undermines our nation's military.

This nation needs to act now to right this wrong.

Argentina
Australia
Bermuda
Canada
Germany
Israel
Italy
The Netherlands
New Zealand
Philippines
Romania
United Kingdom
Switzerland
Uruguay

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_orientation_and_military_service

It's great to know Romania and Uruguay have a more enlightened policy on gays than the US does. And how about Israel? You can see what having gays in the IDF has really destroyed them! But hey, we can afford to just keep tossing out thousands of dedicated, brave patriots from our military, right? Who needs them?

Jes' about EVERYTHING, including the rights of their citizens.

They do not have Corporations controlling their scientists through funding of University laboratories.

They have more than one or two parties to choose from during election cycles.

And their citizenry has access to health care, something that increasing numnbers of Americans will no longer be able to claim.

Point #2 isn't quite correct. My experience in dealing with scientists from Europe especially is that the requirements to publish research are much higher than in the US. It's truly publish or perish. So, they are in desperate need of grants to fund their studies.

The tobacco industry for years had quite a thing going in getting European PhDs to do research that would "cast doubt" on studies showing tobacco was dangerous. That was all the industry wanted -- studies that would cast doubt. The industry still survives on calling into question any study that points to the dangers of tobacco and second-hand smoke.

I used to deal with the tobacco industry and, while they had a few PhD whores in the US, they had many more in Europe.

It sounds like your activism dates back a decade or two before mine.

I am impressed with the Europeans stance on GMO and all that.

What era specifically did the Big Tobacco/European scientist situation take place?

I am not being snarky - I have always been interested in this battle.

Would love any tales you care to recount.

My understanding was -- or at least I was told -- that in order to get a doctorate in science in some European schools, and I'm sure someone will correct me it I'm wrong, you need to not only do original research, but you need to be published a certain number of times in peer-reviewed journals. That isn't necessarily the case in the US.

So, it's easy for the corporations to swoop in and provide grant money to make that happen. Once they've got you in the fold . . .

Even in the US, the grant money from corporations such as big tobacco is tainted. I worked with a guy who handled research grants for a prestigious US university. He said big tobacco had a clause in all their grants that they had final say over publication of the study. This was unusual. Therefore, if a researcher spent three years on a study and the results didn't satisfy big tobacco, the study would end up in a file drawer in Winston-Salem. What researcher is going to spend three years of his/her life on a study that will never be published?

I have been on the lookout for any and all tales of corruption regarding pesticides and otehr modern day chemicals.

So in the last fifteen years, I have encountered Marc Lappe's story - he was working for Stanford Research Insititute and he won't/didn't agree to fudge the numbers on a study re: RoundUp or malathion (I forget which) so he was blacklisted. h nded up creatinghis own roganization to promote the real truths about someo fhtese products. (Died in past few years of cancer, though. However one of his sons is over at Guerrilla Network TV.)

There is George Carlo who was the most eminent mind in science in terms of understanding the science and especially physics of the Magnetic frequencies of cell phones and their antennae. He received twelve million dollars for a study on cell phones, but when his research indicated a cause for concern re: cell phones and brain tumors, the industry lashed out against him.

Pusztai in Scotland who was the chosen researcher on GMO foods - same story.

And of course, the young researcher whose studies in late seventies said that lead should be pulled out of our gasoline for the sake of children. The EPA was set to shit can him, only the MacArthur Foundation was giving him a genius award, so the EPA had to scramble around and deep six his pink slip. His research ended up forcing the removal of lead from gas in most of the fifty states.

And on and on it has gone...

:kick:

This country is a joke.

Quite the opposite in fact. Blind, stupid, bigotry.